perfect Slytherin
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: Of course Pansy Parkinson was dancing with Draco Malfoy at the Yule Ball. Who else would have been? Who else would he have possibly asked?


_Of course_ Pansy Parkinson was dancing with Draco Malfoy at the Yule Ball. Who else would have been? Who else would he have possibly asked? Certainly not Daphne Greengrass, who was no doubt still sitting on her bed in the Slytherin dorms.

But, as he should have, Draco had asked Pansy Parkinson out of all the girls he might have asked, and was she at all surprised that he had? No, why should she be, when they were the most impressive people in the entire hall? When they were the most prestigous, the most important of anyone here?

She was wearing a green and silver dress that matched perfectly with Draco's robes, and as he spun her around the dance floor, Pansy knew that the other girls were giving her jealous looks, each wishing that _they_ could be on the arm of the most handsome man in the room.

Pansy smirked in the direction of Tracey, who was leaning against Theodore Nott, both of whom looked incredibly uncomfortable around each other. Tracey was such a little doll, and it had been much too easy to push her towards Nott, whom Tracey had a crush on, and keep her away from Draco when it came time for picking Yule Ball dates.

Also easy was convincing Millicent that she would simply just _never_ fit into a dress, nor find a boy who liked her enough to invite her out. Of course, all of the Slytherin girls had been very surprised when, the very next day, Goyle of all people had approached Millicent, but Pansy had always been a very good actress.

(Bribing the pea-brained moron with chocolate had been all too easy. Goyle rarely thought with anything more than his stomach, and to his tiny brain, Millicent Bulstrode must have seemed like a damn-near prize.)

The only problem she had run into was convincing her other roommate, Violet Runcorn, to stay far, _far_ away from Draco. Violet was a pretty girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, and her family was almost as as well off as Pansy's own.

It would not do for Violet to suddenly decide that _she_, of all people, was worth Draco Malfoy's attention and time. Pansy had spent almost a week convincing the girl to direct her attention to other boys. Obviously, Crabbe wouldn't do; he was dumber and uglier than Goyle was, and Violet did not have self-conscious body problems like Millicent.

But Violet herself had solved the problem for Pansy by announcing during Herbology, three weeks away from the Ball, that she would be going home for Christmas, as her father had received a promotion at the Ministry, and the family would be going to the Netherlands.

"Oh, you poor dear," Pansy said, pretending to sound concerned while inwardly laughing her head off. All this struggle she had gone to to keep Violet away from Draco, and Mr. Runcorn had fixed everything for her by taking Violet away altogether. Everything was going perfectly for Pansy, the perfect Slytherin princess. "You'll miss the Ball."

"I know," Violet replied sadly, "I was hoping to go to the Ball with Draco, you know? He had asked me already, and I said yes, but…I guess I won't get to go at all now. Shame, because I had _the_ cutest dress to wear, too."

"Oh, yeah?" Pansy muttered, but inside she was a storm, raging against Violet, who was nowhere _near_ Draco's level. She, of all people, did _not_ deserve to dance with Draco, not like Pansy did. Because Pansy understood Draco, and she loved Draco and…

"Are you okay, Pansy?" Draco asked, and she was shaken from her memories of Violet with a smile. Draco was still spinning her around the dance floor, and as Pansy gave him a gentle smile back, she recalled how he had asked _Violet_ before he had asked Pansy.

But in the end, Pansy had still won, as she always did. It was her, and not Violet, who was now dancing with Draco, smirking at the memory of the letter she had written to Daddy about promoting Mr. Runcorn.

She always did win, dancing and manipulating and twisting the world to get _exactly _what she wanted and _exactly _what she deserved. After all, there was a very good reason why the Hat had put her in Slytherin.


End file.
